The Effect Of Different WCF Options On The Accuracy Of The Usage Of English Generic NPs Of Chinese EFL Learners

The effectiveness of written corrective feedback has been in debate for twenty years.Concerning the relative effectiveness of different types of written corrective feedback,there is no consistency conclusion.Therefore,in order to enrich empirical studies concerning WCF available at home,to investigate the effect of different WCF options for Chinese senior high school EFL learners in the use of English generic NPs,to make suggestions for teachers in providing WCF for Chinese senior high school EFL learners,this thesis adopted a quantitative approach using a quasi-experiment and qualitative approach through interview to investigate the following three questions:(1)Is the provision of direct WCF,direct metalinguistic WCF and the hybrid type of WCF effective for Chinese senior high school EFL learners in the use of English generic NPs?(2)Is there any difference between the effectiveness of direct WCF,direct metalinguistic WCF and the hybrid type of WCF on the use of English generic NPs by Chinese senior high school EFL learners? If yes,what is it?(3)Does Chinese senior high school EFL learners’ English proficiency level affect the effectiveness of direct WCF,direct metalinguistic feedback and the hybrid type of CF as regards the accuracy in use of English generic NPs? If yes,what is it?The current study employed a quasi-experimental research design with a “pretest-treatment-immediate posttest-delayed posttest” structure,reporting a two-month study with 172 Chinese senior high school EFL students who were from intact classrooms in Shandong province.Four groups were randomly assigned: a direct WCF group,a direct meta-limgustic WCF group,a mixed WCF group and a control group.At the very beginning of the research,a test of English proficiency level was administered.Afterwards,the pretest,two sessions of treatment,the immediate post-test and the delayed post-test were implemented accordingly.The interview was operated by selecting 10 students randomly from each group in order to safely draw conclusions about the research.The participants were required to write 4 pieces of argumentative and finish 3 sets of translation tests in total.The scores collected and processed in pretest,immediate post-test and delayed post-test were analyzed and computed in SPSS 22.0.One-way ANOVAs as well as Two-Way ANOVAs were applied to investigate the three research questions.The results revealed that(1)All the three WCF options were effective in improving Chinese senior high school EFL learners’ accuracy in the use of English generic NPs;(2)The three WCF options were as effective as one another in the short term and the direct metalinguistic WCF had a long-lasting effect;(3)As far as the effect of learners’ English proficiency level was concerned,the effects of the mixed WCF and the direct WCF were affected by learners’ proficiency level.To be more precise,the mixed WCF and direct metalinguistic WCF were more beneficial for high English proficiency level learners on the long run and there was no difference between the effects of them.In contrast,low English proficiency level learners benefited more from direct WCF and direct metalinguistic WCF and no difference was found between the effect of direct WCF and the effect of direct metalinguistic WCF.Some innovations were made with regards to participants and the WCF form,which enhanced WCF researches to some degree,besides some implications presented pertaining to providing WCF to Chinese senior high school EFL learners.Meanwhile,some limitations were teased out: The results have low ecological validity.They can only be applied to low intermediate English proficiency level Chinese senior high school EFL learners in using English generic NPs when measuring accuracy.It is unknown whether providing more correct examplars for low English proficiency level learners will be more effective or not for their correct use of English generic NPs.Therefore,more advanced English proficiency level learners can get involved into future studies.Other target structures as well as other types of WCF should be taken into consideration in view of the impact of other individual differences on the effectiveness of WCF.